Means for operating fans



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFREDO FLORES, ANTONIO D. FLORES, AND MARCOS FLORES, OF SAN ANTONIO,TEXAS.

MEANS FOR OPERATING FANS, 840

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 573,774, dated December22, 1896.

Application filed June 10, 1896. Serial No. 595,065. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ALFREDO FLORES, ANTONIO D. FLORES, and MARCOSFLORES, citizens of the United States, residing at San Antonio, in thecounty of Bexar and State of Texas, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Means for Operating Fans, &c. of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention is an improvement in the class of apparatus adapted to bepropelled by hand or foot, and is embodied in the construction andarrangement of parts hereinafter described. As connected with andforming part of a rotatable hand-fan it is adapted to be held in thehand and driven by pressure of the thumb applied intermittently to avibrating lever.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective viewillustrating the practical use of our invention as applied to a fan.Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same. Fig. 3 is a side view of theapparatus applied to a bottle-cleaning brush.

The fan proper, A, is composed of a series of radial and twisted bladesa, fixed on a hub a, that isin turn secured by means of a clampscrew ato a rotary shaft B, having its bearings in a suitable skeleton frame 0O. The said shaft B has a lantern-pinion a arranged between the parallelbars or arms 0 0, composing said frame, and meshing with a spurgear D,which is similarly arranged and keyed on a counter-shaft E, alsojournaled in the bars G O and arranged below the fan-shaft B. On a thirdshaft F, arranged below shaft E, is keyed a ratchet-wheel or disk G, andbeside it is mounted loose on the same shaft a skeleton spur-wheel H,that meshes with a pinion I on the middle shaft E. To the face of theloose gear H is pivoted a spring-actuated pawl J, that engages saidratchet G and is adapted to slide on the same when moving in theopposite direction.

The lower shaft F projects through the frame-bar O, and on its end iskeyed a disk or crank K, to which a link L is pivoted eccentrically. Thelower end of said link is pivoted to a lever M, which is ofright-angular form and pivoted at its angle m to the frame-bar 0, itslonger arm m projectingdownward at a normally slight angle to the handleextension 0 of frame-bar O. A stiff plate-spring N is secured to thelower end of such handle extension 0, its free end bearing against thefree arm m of the lever M. By the form and arrangement of said lever, asshown and described, it is adapted to be easily pressed by the thumb ofthe operators hand which grasps the handle 0 and holds the fan in anydesired position, say contiguous to the operators face. pressed, it isforced to the position shown by dotted lines, Fig. 2, and the link Lpushes on the crank or disk K and thereby rotates the shaft F one-half arevolution, and the thumbpressure being then relaxed the spring N forcesthe lever M back to its original and normal position, (shown by fulllines,) and pressure being then again applied the same operation isrepeated, and so on indefinitely. It is further apparent that by therotation of the crank-shaft F thus produced the ratchet G is heldengaged with the pawl I and the loose gear H thereby caused to drive theshafts B and rotate the fan A continuously. Thus the intermittentvibration of the lever M is converted into constant rotation of the fan.

It will be seen that the complete rotation of the ratchet G andcrank-shaft F is not essential or necessary to effect constant rotationof the fan, since if the lever M be pressed only sufficient to rotatethe said shaft F, say, one-third of a revolution that will suffice tocause the fan to make several revolutions, and by the momentum thusacquired the pawl I will be caused to ride over the ratchet G, as thelatter rotates backward with its shaft F, by reason of the downward pullof the link L.

We apply the propelling apparatus proper for various uses besidesdriving a fan, for example, for rotating a bottle-cleaning brush M, asshown in Fig. 3. By substituting another circular brush for that shownthe apparatus may be used as a type-writer-type brush-cleaner, and bysubstituting a suitable and well-known form of stirrer for the brush theapparatus is adapted for use as a lVhen the lever M is thusflour-beater. In short, we do not restrict ourselves in any range of useof the propelling apparatus proper.

Vhat We claim is 1. The improved apparatus, composed of a frame, arotatable, bladed Wheel, multiplying-gearing for rotating such wheel, aspringpressed lever pivoted to and extending along the frame, and a linkconnecting said lever and gearing, all operating as shown and described.

2. The improved fan apparatus, composed of the supporting-frame, the fanproper, a counter-shaft, gear, and pinion, the fan-shaft and its pinion,a third shaft, and a ratchet fixed thereon, a gear rotating loose onsuch ratchet-shaft, and a pawl carried thereby and engaging the ratchet,a pivoted hand-lever, a pivoted link connecting such lever and a crankon the ratchet-shaft, and a spring acting on the lever on the sideadjacent to its free end, and serving to restore the lever andpawl-carrying gear to their normal position While the fan, gearing, andratchet continue to rotate, as specified.

3. The improved hand-fan apparatus, composed of the fan proper, rotativegearing for directly operating it, ratchet-and-pawl mechanism forworking such gearing, aframe carrying such apparatus and having a handleextension 0, a right-angle lever pivoted to such extension, and its freeportion arranged adj acently, and the spring, arranged between the leverand extension 0, as shown and .described, whereby the operator isenabled to hold the handle and vibrate the lever by the same hand, asspecified.

ALFREDO FLORES. ANTONIO D. FLORES. MARCOS FLORES. Vitnesses:

L. HENERMANN, P. J. BOYLE.

